Stadium disasters have blighted the world of sport throughout modern history. One woman was seen running around the ground with no skin on her arms and face. People were scrambling for their lives to get out, and I know having sat in that stand normally that it is difficult and there is a drop to get to the pitch level," Harrison says. "The players were told to go to the pub at the top of the road, we didn't know at this point if anyone had been killed. Most of the exits at the back were locked or shut and there were no stewards present to open them, but seven were forced open or found open. I saw one man lying on the ground, burning from head to foot. The fire happened during a football match. ", "There was a throw-in in front of the stand where the fire started - something caught my eye. "I remember not being able to watch it, but we couldn't get out. 1.7M subscribers in the CatastrophicFailure community. All Rights Reserved. By this date the appeal fund set up for survivors had paid out more than 4m with further payouts expected as the effects of physical and mental injury were determined. "The referee blew his whistle to stop the game and told us to get back to the dressing room.". The blaze is believed to have begun when a dropped cigarette lit rubbish under the wooden seats of the wooden Main Stand at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium Fletcher has taken facts and presented them in such a way that it should make it moralistically impossible for this incident not to be looked at again. Superintendent Barry Osborne, divisional commander for the football club area, who was injured in the fire said that many policemen cried when they saw how badly people had been burned. [10][11], Bradford's Telegraph & Argus newspaper published a souvenir issue for 11 May, entitled, "Spit and Polish for the Parade Ground". A capacity 6,000 crowd attended a multi-denominational memorial service, held on the pitch in the sunny shadow of the burnt out stand at Valley Parade in July 1985. But all the people being treated, we formed a family, a bond.". A fire at a third division match between Bradford City and Lincoln City killed 56, including 11 children, and injured hundreds more. There was a bit of paper on fire, but it was so small.". Earlier this year, Town gave up working in construction to pursue painting full-time through his business Stadium Portraits. The Popplewell Inquiry found that the club had been warned about the fire risk that the rubbish accumulating under the stand had posed. She was an. Radiated heat from the burning roof of the stand set fire to the clothing of fans trapped underneath. The horrific scenes of people burning alive seemed to live on in an eerie silence as daylight broke over the remains of Bradford City Football Club's ground yesterday. They were hampered further by the fact that doors at the back of the stand were locked to try to stop people coming in without paying. Bradford fire: the horrors and the silence that had to be broken Daniel Taylor The policewoman assigned to the grieving Fletchers gets goosebumps when she looks back to 30 years ago. "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. People were wandering around outside the ground in disbelief, reminiscent of an air disaster, at what had happened the day before. Although there was no perimeter fencing, such as led to the devastating crush at Hillsborough, locked turnstiles meant that many fans who tried to escape by that means were killed or seriously injured. "Many people still don't want to talk about the disaster. Ironically, off-duty firemen were at the ground selling raffle tickets for a charity football match which should have been held yesterday. The money raised from this record was contributed to fund the internationally renowned burns unit that was established in partnership between the University of Bradford and Bradford Royal Infirmary, immediately after the fire, which has also been Bradford City's official charity for well over a decade. "It is unbelievable how quickly the fire took hold. Following the hearing in 1986, a test case was brought against the club by David Britton, a police sergeant serving on the day, and by Susan Fletcher, who lost her husband John, 11-year-old son Andrew, John's brother Peter and his father Edmond in the fire. "We stayed in the pub for hours. They were donated by Bradford's twin city of Hamm, Germany, and are situated in front of Bradford City Hall in both locations. Interviews conducted by BBC Radio Leeds' Tim Daley. "The fire still has a big impact on people," Parker says. Other parents whose children had not arrived home on Saturday called at the police station or sat in cars outside, waiting for news. The only fire extinguishers in the ground were in the clubroom, which is also in the main stand. There has been reports of people lighting paper under the seats, and it was important that as many fans as possible who were in the stand or at the Kop end contacted the police. Come celebrate the beastly realm and our place in it and with it, an even more radically inclusive and sustainable city and global community in 2023: ANIMALIA! BBC Sport looks back at the Bradford City fire disaster that claimed the lives of 56 spectators when a stand became engulfed in flames on 11 May 1985. Below the seats were rows of litter which had piled up throughout the season, said witnesses. Like you, we're already preparing for Black Rock City to rise again. It is impossible so far to be accurate about the precise cause of the fire, with grossly conflicting reports from witnesses. We had not been told anything.". 05/10/15 AT 12:00 PM BST Crowds on the pitch at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium after the stand caught fire Getty Images Fifty-six people were killed, 265 were injured and thousands. You may notice some big changes in Black Rock City this year. All existing grandstands deemed fire risks were faced with immediate closure. "The letters that went to the club, the council's failings, the police's failings, even as supporters we allowed a culture where the gates were locked. [29] The Health and Safety Executive who were also part of the legal action were found to be non-liable. Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground. "We went out on to the pitch and I could see so many happy faces. Valley Parade re-opened on 14 December 1986, when Bradford City beat an England XI 21 in a friendly. I have never had to deal with such a situation before, and this has put the city on its heels.'. Lincoln City suffered two successive relegations, first to the Fourth Division in 1986, and again in 1987, becoming the first team to be automatically relegated from the Football League itself. On 11 May 1985 a fire erupted in the midst of a third-division tie between Bradford City and Lincoln City at Valley Parade, killing 54 home supporters and two Lincoln fans. Among the main outcomes of the inquiry were the banning of new wooden grandstands at all UK sports grounds, the immediate closure of other wooden stands deemed unsafe and the banning of smoking in other wooden stands. Hendrie: "Us players must have been in the tunnel for seconds - and I mean seconds. He had to undergo counselling and was unable to go to another game for several years. The game was goalless after 40 minutes when play was stopped. ", Hendrie: "We stayed in the pub for hours. A few minutes later, he felt a thump on his back from his father, who told him to run. The playing area and stands were very basic but the ground had enough room for 18,000spectators. Somebody looked round and grabbed me by the hood of my coat to pull me over. One man clambered over burning seats to help a fan, as did player John Hawley, and one officer led fans to an exit, only to find it shut and turn around.Bradford City's coach Terry Yorath, whose family was in the stand, ran onto the pitch to help evacuate people. That's when everybody else had the same thought. One letter from the council said the problems "should be rectified as soon as possible"; a second said: "A carelessly discarded cigarette could give rise to a fire risk." The man in charge of investigating the fire, Detective Superintendent Kevin Cooper was at the game. The scene in there was one of silence and shock. "I walked past a public telephone outside the ground and there were queues of people waiting to ring home to say: 'I'm OK'. Martin Fletcher, a Bradford fan who lost three generations of his family in the fire, published a memoir of the tragic event called Fifty-Six The Story Of The Bradford Fire, in which he claimed the blaze at Valley Parade was one of nine fires at businesses owned by or associated with Heginbotham. "I've always loved art but I owned businesses in construction so I've never had the time or a chance to follow it up," he says. Footage of the accident at this point shows levels of confusion among the spectatorswhile many were trying to escape or to cross the pitch to the relative safety of the neighbouring stands, other spectators were observed cheering or waving to the still-rolling pitchside cameras. In the panic that ensued, fleeing crowds escaped on to the pitch but others at the back of the stand tried to break down locked exit doors to escape. However as the game against Lincoln progressed, a fire began just before half-time in the stand that ran alongside the pitch. I remember trying to make sense of what was going on. Helm later described the start of the fire in an interview to the Express newspaper: .mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, [A] man over from Australia visiting his son got two tickets to the game. One man clambered over burning seats to help a fan,[18] as did player John Hawley,[15] and one officer led fans to an exit, only to find it shut and had to turn around. Since then, it has been further re-developed and, today, Valley Parade is a modern 25,136 all-seater stadium, which is virtually unrecognisable from how it was at the time of the disaster, save for the original clubhouse that still stands beside the main stand, and the flank support wall that runs down the Hollywell Ash Lane at the "Bradford End". More than 250 others were injured in one of the. An ancient wooden spectator stand and a dropped cigarette - the ingredients for one of Britain's deadliest soccer tragedies. The 1984-85 season had been one of the most successful in Bradford City's 82-year history. "It is the little things that show how much people are still involved the fire still has a big impact on people. Fans in the next stand (the "Bradford End") pulled down the fence separating them from the pitch. "[11] Police Superintendent Barry Osborne, divisional commander for the area, said many of his officers cried when they saw how badly people had been burned. "We couldn't run back down the tunnel. Fifty-six people died. [22], Immediately after the fire, Sharpe planned and treated the injuries of over 200 individuals, with many experimental treatments being used. Former Bradford midfielder John Hendrie, who was playing in the match: "We had already won the league, all the hard work had been done. Just look at how many people were standing around just 50-60 meters away from the blazing inferno. He appealed to people to be patient while forensic experts identified bodies. The fact is that no one person was concerned with the safety of the premises. All that was left of. Today marks the 35th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in the history of British football. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Revealed: former Bradford chairman linked to at least eight fires before Valley Parade disaster, Martin Fletcher: Maybe the reason I am here is to finally reveal the truth, TheStory of the Bradford Fire: could any man really be as unlucky as Stafford Heginbotham?. Surviving supporters, former Bradford players, the sole television commentator at the stadium and the judge who led the government inquiry tell the BBC about that fateful afternoon and its aftermath. Once we went out it was mayhem, manic, chaotic. One elderly man started to walk across the pitch with his clothes and face ablaze. Each year Lincoln send representatives to the annual memorial service in Bradford city centre and between 2007 and 2009, were managed by Bradford's captain that day, Peter Jackson. 'I have to tell you that the fire was so intense that identifying people is going to be the great problem we have to face.'. "I was in the main stand when the fire happened," he says. Your brain tells you, you are not going anywhere. Popplewell's report was nowhere close to the quality of Lord Justice Taylor's report after Hillsborough, and since reading it as an adult I have always been very disappointed in it and considered it a poor piece of work. The 4-alarm fire started in a one-story lumber storage building and spread to an adjacent building . [10] The call was timed at 3:43pm. Representatives from the fire brigade were due to go to the club tomorrow to inspect it and see whether regulations were being observed. "[27], After controversial comments made by Popplewell about the Hillsborough Disaster, Fletcher raised further concerns about the events following the fire saying that "I have many unanswered questions still about the fire in which four of my family died, as does my mother. [5] However, he also warned the club of a build-up of litter beneath the stand because of a gap between the seats. The main stand at Bradford was not surrounded by fencing, and therefore most of the spectators in it could escape onto the pitch if they had been penned in then the death toll would inevitably have been in the hundreds if not the thousands. Many who had walked out of the fire stood on the pitch looking back in horror as the flames destroyed the stand. [32] Speaking at the close of the case, the Judge said "They (the club) were at fault, no one in authority seemed to have appreciated the fire hazard. The fact the inquiry also embraced the investigation into another incident which happened on the same day, a riot in which a young boy died at Birmingham City, makes it seem more frivolous. There is no evidence in the book, he is just pointing out there are some coincidences. The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show The Big Match. Treatment of casualties and Burns Research Unit, Dramatisations, documentaries and published works, West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, Learn how and when to remove this template message, List of accidents and disasters by death toll, List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll, "Hideous images linger after carnage of 'celebration' day", "Caught in Time: Bradford City win the Third Division, 1985", "EXCLUSIVE: Bradford's Valley Parade fire must be remembered like Hillsborough", "History of The Bradford Sling The Bradford Sling", "Bradford City football stadium blaze surgeon honoured", "Research centre to be living memorial to Bradford City FC fire disaster", "The Papers of the Popplewell Inquiry into Crowd Safety at Sports Grounds", "Popplewell Inquiry Bradford City Fire", "Bradford remembered: The unheeded warnings that led to tragedy", Joseph Canley summing up statement from test case court transcripts, Newspaper report from Sport and the Law April 21st 1989, "The Glasgow Herald Google News Archive Search", Los Angeles Times report on Bradford City test case findings, Court transcript from the test case brought by Susan Fletcher and Others against Bradford City and Others, "Bradford fire survivor attacks judge over Hillsborough comments", "The Story of the Bradford Fire: 'could any man really be as unlucky as Stafford Heginbotham? In those days there was a lot of hooliganism and violence, so my initial thought was: 'I hope it has not kicked off - that's the last thing we need'. Listen to Valley Parade: Bradford City Fire Remembered on BBC Radio Leeds (18:00 BST) and BBC Radio 5 live (21:00 BST). His face was burned and his car, which he had parked outside the ground, was destroyed. The fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium in which 56 people died and more than 270 were injured is remembered 25 years on. [8], The Bradford City matchday squad of players and staff consisted of Terry Yorath, Trevor Cherry, Chris Withe, Don Goodman, Eric McManus, Tony Clegg, John Hawley, Dave Evans, Bryan Edwards, John Hendrie, Mark Ellis, Stuart McCall, Peter Jackson, Bobby Campbell, Martin Singleton and Greg Abbott. Many were burnt to death at the turnstiles gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. The man we see at 7:50 walking out onto the pitch on fire was a retired mill worker. "It made me realise life is too short." I dread to imagine how many more could have died if the wind had been blowing in the direction of the pitch, instead of away from it. We couldn't breathe. Nigel Adams who worked for 12 years as a fire investigator with a British fire service was spurred on by the book to join the call for a fresh inquiry, stating that Fletcher's book was "one of the best accounts of a fire, as seen from a victim's point of view, and as a piece of investigative writing, I have ever read". It was clear from what the Chief Fire Officer for West Yorkshire, Mr Graham Karran, said yesterday that the ground was far from safe. It occurred during a league match in front of record numbers of spectators, on Saturday, 11 May 1985, killing 56 and injuring at least 265. At the final home match against Barnsley at the end of April, Bradford City fans collected more than 8,000 in a bucket collection. Forty-two minutes into the first half of the game, he looked to his left to see smoke and flames rising from the old wooden seats. Witnesses of the fire have come to terms with the tragedy in different ways. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. 'The smoke was very, very dense. Keep an eye out as you ride your bike through the city you will see a new solar-powered Man, fewer gas and . The stand had no perimeter fencing to keep fans from accessing the pitch, thus averting an instance of crush asphyxia as in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. On Saturday 11 May 2002, the 17th anniversary of the disaster, a memorial with the names of those who lost their lives was dedicated at the new entrance to the redeveloped Sunwin stand. Bradford City continues to support the burns unit at the University of Bradford as its official charity. [17], One witness saw paper or debris on fire, about nine inches (230mm) below the floor boards. Coach Terry Yorath described the events as "the worst day in my life. The blaze quickly engulfed the stand as Bradford played Lincoln City and claimed the lives of 59 people on May 11, 1985. 48,785 Location Lake Jonathan Creek The footage never gets any less shocking. [56], On 17 April 2015, retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer, in a report by the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, said the police were aware of an Australian man who admitted to starting the fire. [14] It took less than four minutes for the entire stand to be engulfed in flames.[11]. Now they will begin another inquiry, into the cause of the Bradford fire. ', Bradford City Fire Website messages of condolence from around the world, "Chuckle Brothers' single for Bradford City fire anniversary", "Bradford City stadium fire: The untold stories of the 1985 fire", "Emotive play of Bradford City fire disaster raises cash for burns unit", "Book Review: Four Minutes to Hell: The Story of the Bradford City Fire by Paul Firth football book reviews", "Football Focus 1st May 2010 Bradford City Part 1", Bradford City A year of healing Documentary, "Bradford fire: expert demands new investigation into blaze", "Bradford City stadium fire 1985 IPCC investigation decision", "BRADFORD CITY FIRE: Accidental cause of tragedy 'not in any doubt', says detective", "Bradford City fire 'started by cigarette', "Bradford City fire: Briton attacks 'inaccurate' BBC documentary claiming his uncle started blaze", "Bradford fire: Sir Oliver Popplewell defends 1985 inquiry interview in full", Living with Jacko From Touchline to Lifeline, Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire, The full Interim Report by Lord Popplewell into the Bradford City Fire, British Medical Journal article on the treatment of burns casualties after the Bradford City Fire, Peter Jackson's account of the Bradford City Fire, Nationally broadcast Yorkshire Television programme covering the fire, broadcast the following day, ITN bulletin covering the fire, also from the following day, ITN bulletin covering the aftermath, from three days later, Chelsea F.C. As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. "For the first minute people were laughing and joking, it wasn't anything serious. At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. 1908 - Collinwood school fire, in Collinwood, Ohio (soon absorbed by Cleveland ), on March 4, killed 175. Owing to windy conditions, less than four minutes later the entire wooden stand was engulfed in smoke and fire. [15] They included three who tried to escape through the toilets, 27 who were found by exit K and turnstiles 6 to 9 at the rear centre of the stand, and two elderly people who had died in their seats. Disaster struck at 3.43 pm. Club coach Terry Yorath incurred minor injuries while taking part in the rescue. The stadium was known for its antiquated design and facilities, which included the wooden roof of the main stand. Parents and children were laughing and joking with the police as the preliminaries to the game began. Pendleton: "As I ran away I remember turning around and looking and just seeing this wall of grey smoke pouring out and pushing thousands of people in front of it. As we move ahead on the 2030 Sustainability Roadmap, sustainability projects are taking center stage. Those with longer memories will also think of the Ibrox disaster of . The book also raises concerns about the speed of the inquiry and the fact that it commenced a few weeks after the fire and lasted for only a few days, whereas other inquiries into similar incidents, pre and post the Bradford fire, have taken years to come to fruition and months to be heard. I asked the director to get the camera to go a little closer. They wouldn't let us because then people would get in the way of fire engines, ambulances and police trying to get in. Two or three burly men put their weight against it and smashed the gate open. Funnily enough I was thinking 'I'm going to miss the second half at this rate'.
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